The present invention relates to a process of making ready-to-eat food bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,685 to Persson et al. discloses a biscuit comprising agglomerated granules of a cooked-extruded base coated with a binder, the base comprising from 40 to 80 parts by weight of cereal flour, up to 20 parts sucrose and from 0.5 to 3 parts of oil or fat, and the binder comprising from 8 to 30 parts by weight of sucrose and/or mixtures of glucose and its polymers.
PCT Application W089/04121 assigned to HEINZ SCHAAF OHG discloses a process for manufacturing cereals by cooking-extruding a mixture of cereal material, vegetable and/or fruits with a partial amount of sugar and milk, cutting the expanded rope of cooked-extruded mixture into pieces having a large surface, spraying an aqueous suspension of sugar and milk onto the just cut, hot and moist pieces, coating the moistened pieces with a remaining part of components in powder form and drying the coated pieces.
The present invention relate a process for manufacturing the ready-to-eat food bar. This process includes the steps of preparing a dry mixture of particles of one or more cooked cereal bases which includes mainly amylaceous materials and optionally milk solids, mixing the dry mixture with a binder having sugars, milk solids, humectants and fat and forming the mass thus obtained into a bar shape.
The ready-to-eat food bar of the present invention includes agglomerated particles of amylaceous material, sugars and optionally milk solids. The food bar of the invention is nutritionally valuable and has a soft texture while retaining the crunchiness of cereal. The amylaceous material of the ready-to-eat food bar of the invention includes one or more cooked cereal bases which are coated with a binder. Advantageously, the binder includes sugars, milk solids, humectants and fat.
It has surprisingly been found that it was possible in this way to provide a food bar which is ready-to-eat, namely, it can be eaten just by scrunching it, is nutritionally valuable and has a soft texture while retaining the crunchiness of cereal.
Other improvements which the present invention provides over the prior art will be identified as a result of the following description which sets forth the preferred embodiments of the present invention. The description is not in any way intended to limit the scope of the present invention, but rather only to provide the working example of the present preferred embodiments. The scope of the present invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.